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Mercedes claims the updated E-Class due to go on sale this summer will be free of the reliability bugs that have affected the current model since launch in 2002.

The revised car has been put through the most intensive testing schedule Mercedes has ever undertaken with a single model.

It features 2000 new parts compared with the outgoing car, including five new or revised engines and improved safety aids (see separate stories).

Mercedes has also been working with component suppliers to ensure uniform quality standards at every company which provides parts for the E-Class.

Its target is to reduce warranty claims to a lower level than those at Toyota, a company renowned for outstanding reliability.

Electrical glitches are among the most common problems experienced by the current E-Class. Mercedes claims to have ironed these out by testing every component separately outside the car to ensure durability under all conditions.

The braking system has also been changed. The 2002 E-Class had a part-electronic mechanism that was the subject of a recall campaign, but this has been dropped. Mercedes says it can now get the same braking effectiveness by conventional means.

In all, 1000 pre-production versions of the new E-Class were tested for a total distance of nearly three million miles. This will now become the schedule for every new Mercedes.